Day: August 23, 2011

My first bottle of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, which I purchased in 2008, was a huge disappointment. The 2-oz. spray bottle delivered a mist of coffee-colored paint mixed with a hint of shimmer. It did it twice. Then the spritz top got clogged. I like the product well enough, but I kept having to shake, decant into a tiny mister bottle, use, clean, pour back. I gave up pretty quickly. I tried again with Pearl, same result.

New formlation of Glimmer Mist

The salesperson warned me not to shake the bottle as that would “force the glitter” into the spray tube and up to the top. I was supposed to “rock the bottle back and forth.” The spray-clog ideas was unlikely (OK, so she wasn’t a fluid mechanics major) and the “rocking” part was just plain not going to happen in my studio.

Three weeks ago, when I saw the new delicious colors in a store, I wasn’t tempted. Not one bit. I’d used the coffee and pearl by pouring them in small, deep containers (like pill bottles) and painting them on with a brush. Not again.

I noticed the new bottles had a label on them that said “New formula: EZ Mix, EZ Mist.” I decided to try. I bought a bottle. In the studio it sprayed consistently 3 times. I left the cap off and waited an hour. It sprayed perfectly. I left the cap off overnight. It still worked.

Glacier sprayed on black paper.

Even better, the glitter was softer, finer and more elegant looking. The next day I bought three more bottles for a project I had in mind. Within a week I had eight new bottles in total. Three shades of blue (Glacier, Waterslide, and Delphinium), Lemon Zest, Olive Vine, a dark chocolate with red (Chocolate Covered Cherries), Black Magic (black with gold glimmer) and Oriental Poppy (an orange red).

Within another week, they were put to the test–I taught a class of 50 people in two sections, with a waiting time between sections. The spray is water-based and non-toxic. It works fine on paper and over watercolors, acrylics, watercolor pencil, and ink. It works on some fabrics better than others. (The shimmer is less on cottons and canvas). It doesn’t work on plastics (because it’s water-based) unless you coat it with watercolor ground.

In class, the bottles were left uncapped, shaken, sprayed, and shaken again. At the end of class, I capped them all and took them back to the studio, and, without rinsing out the spritzer, packed them away. A week later, I unpacked them again. Shook them up and down. Each one sprayed perfectly.

The only thing I’m not pleased with is the sample of sprays shown here. It’s impossible to catch the subtle glimmer with a camera. But it’s there. Along with a good spritz of color.

I use them as a top spray on handmade cards, as a color or top spray on spray-ink maps, as a background on journal pages (you can write over the glitter smoothly–no bumps), on appliques, particularly if I use black paper.

Cost: About $7.00 for a 2-oz. bottle.

FTC-required disclosure: I purchased all eight bottles myself, from a local craft store.